President Ma Ying-jeou, escorted by Council of Agriculture (COA) Minister Chen Wu-hsiung, on the morning of June 15 attended the opening of a conference devoted to adjusting agricultural policies in response to climate change. The president said he was very pleased to see the COA’s efforts in this regard.
The president first mentioned a gift of peaches sent by a villager who had grown them in Namaxia Township, Kaohsiung County. The letter from the villager mentioned the government's efforts to rebuild the area in the wake of the flooding that hit southern and eastern Taiwan in August last year, adding that this was pivotal for the villagers to harvest their peaches as usual. The villager expressed gratitude to the government and said that the gift of peaches was a gesture to share the results with the president. President Ma said he was touched to receive the letter and the gift. He added that after further enquiring as to the state of production and sales of peaches in the area, he decided to buy over 200 boxes of peaches grown in the area and give them as gifts to underprivileged groups, thereby enabling even more people to share in the farm products that were grown in areas hit by last year's disaster.
President Ma said this example shows that climate change is an issue that the entire world is already facing. The agricultural sector in particular is impacted by weather. While agriculture accounts for only a limited portion of Taiwan's overall economic output, the president remarked that many people rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Furthermore, he noted, agriculture has played a big role in the course of Taiwan's economic development, adding that the government has always placed great emphasis on this sector.
The president commented that a string of international conferences devoted to climate change has prompted the entire world to pay close attention to the issue. He said that while the ROC is neither a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) nor a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, it still places great importance on the issue. President Ma said the government has promoted a variety of measures and has urged the public to work together on these initiatives to promote global sustainable development. He stated that the ROC's efforts to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions have yielded considerable results. Taiwan's carbon emissions in 2008 fell 4.4% from the year earlier, and dropped another 5% in 2009. He said that the original goal of reducing emissions in 2020 to 2008 levels has been amended, and the government now seeks to cut emissions to 2005 levels by that time. This would be equivalent to reducing the amount of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 to 45% below business-as-usual (BAU) levels.
President Ma stressed that conserving energy, reducing carbon emissions, and responding to climate change are the joint responsibility of all government agencies. He said he is pleased that the COA has taken this step to formulate response strategies in light of the problems that will face the nation's agricultural sector. The president said he hopes other agencies will also closely monitor the impact of global warming, formulate response measures, and make early preparations for possible eventualities.
The president reiterated his hope that Taiwan's economy will exhibit a recovery with Taiwan characteristics on four fronts, namely high growth in employment, innovation, energy conservation & reduced carbon emissions, and participation in regional economic integration. He also hopes Taiwan will become a global operations and innovation center. President Ma commented that the government is presently involved in negotiations with mainland China on an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). He said that Taiwan has not agreed during the negotiations to increase the number of agricultural products import items from mainland China, and in fact is seeking to expand its exports of agricultural products to the mainland in an effort to generate more business opportunities for our farmers.
Lastly, the president encouraged everyone attending the conference to continue working on this issue and providing valuable suggestions. He said this will help the government to aid Taiwan's agricultural community in responding to the possible challenges resulting from climate change, and promote sustainable operations and development of the agricultural sector here.